


and then the whole town knows

by nurseydcx



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Epilogue, TRK spoilers, post-trk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:59:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7708948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nurseydcx/pseuds/nurseydcx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the epilogue of The Raven King, Adam’s father knows that him and Ronan are dating, which he must have heard through the grapevine. Which means all of Henrietta probably knows. </p><p>Here are a handful of times where they could have found out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and then the whole town knows

Although Ronan and Adam decided that they were dating very shortly after their first kiss, the decision to be openly affectionate with one another took a little longer.

“I mean,” Adam said, “it’s not that I don’t want people knowing. It’s just... easier if they don’t. But I also don’t want to feel like I’m hiding, because that’s been my whole life and I fucking hate it.”  They were curled up together on the Monmouth couch, Adam leaning back against Ronan’s chest, relishing in a few minutes of alone time while Gansey ran to pick up Blue and get pints of ice cream for all of them.

Ronan nodded, nuzzling his nose in Adam’s hair, right next to his good ear. “Well I don’t exactly give a fuck who knows and who doesn’t, but I’m also not going to out you to this tiny, southern town if you’re not cool with it. There’s not much else to do here besides gossip, so everyone would know eventually.”

Adam sighed, and took a second to think about it before responding. He didn’t care if kids from Aglionby knew, because they never messed with him, and publicly dating Ronan Lynch would probably get bullies to back off more than just being his best friend already did. He hardly interacted with Henrietta residents outside of work, and he doubted he would encounter problems there either. The most obvious dissenters would be Adam’s parents, which he realized was the true source of his hesitation. He hadn’t lived with them in months, and he knew for a fact he would never live with them again, but their hateful words and bigoted ideas stung more than Adam wanted to admit. It fucking sucked, that they could taint something so wonderful as his relationship with Ronan, and Adam was nothing if he wasn’t determined, so right then and there he decided to not them take this from him too. That might have been easier said than done, but he didn’t care.

“I’m cool with it. I’ve got this intimidating boyfriend who would scare off anyone who tried to give me shit about it, anyway.”

Ronan laughed. “He sounds awesome.”

Smirking, Adam turned in Ronan’s arms so they were face to face, and then he pressed a kiss to his jaw before kissing his way up to Ronan’s mouth. “Believe me, he is.”

 

* * *

 

The first people to find out then are, predictably, the customers of Nino’s.

Blue still works there despite her loathing for the establishment, which means that Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Henry are frequent patrons and will wait for Blue’s shift to end so she can come join them at their favorite table towards the back. On this day in particular, Adam and Ronan won the race to sit in the booth, and Adam was exhausted enough to not even think before leaning into Ronan’s side and resting his head on Ronan’s shoulder. Adam had pulled a double shift at the factory the night before, and now could hardly keep his eyes open.

To his credit, Ronan hardly seemed surprised by the physical contact, and reacted only by wrapping one arm around Adam’s waist as he continued his conversation with Gansey. Gansey, having been used to seeing Ronan and Adam act like this at Monmouth or the Barns, didn’t think twice about it either. Which left Henry, who raised his eyebrows and looked like he was trying very hard not to interrupt the conversation.

Ronan noticed his look though, and his arm tightened around Adam’s waist before he responded. “Got something to say, Cheng?” His voice was still calm, but Adam knew he was ready to tear Henry apart if he answered incorrectly.

“No, no! I just didn’t know you two were, you know.” He motioned to them, waving his hands around vaguely. “Together.”

Blue appeared a second later, grinning as she plopped down in Gansey’s lap. “I’m surprised it took you this long to figure it out, honestly.”

“Gross,” Adam and Ronan deadpanned in unison, grinning at their synchronization. Blue scoffed at them, but didn’t move from her position on top of Gansey.

“I don’t think you’re qualified to judge, since last week you were literally making out against Ronan’s car outside of Monmouth. In broad daylight.”

Ronan rolled his eyes. “You weren’t exactly supposed to be there to see us, Maggot. We don’t barge into rooms when you and Dick are having alone time.”

“You were  _ outside _ , in a  _ public space _ .”

Ronan shrugged, flipping Blue off and somehow snuggling even closer to Adam on the seat. “Parrish, you hearing this shit?”

“Dunno Lynch, I am half deaf.”

“Sargent thinks we should tone it down a notch.”

“Or two,” Blue interrupted.

Adam stared at Blue, and then looked up at Ronan, and knew that both of them instantly had the same idea. “Like this?” He asked, before leaning in and kissing Ronan.

The kiss was chaste, closed lips quickly pressed against each other, but Adam’s heart was still racing because  _ oh my god you’re actually kissing Ronan in semi-public, everyone in here could see you _ .

Adam composed himself enough to send a shit-eating look at Blue when he and Ronan pulled apart, and without looking he knew Ronan was doing the same thing. Blue, on the other hand, was expertly recreating the sounds of someone puking. 

Gansey spoke before Blue could, a warm smile on his face that contrasted from her fake disgust. “Neither of you are exactly subtle, but I for one am glad that you’re both happy.”

“Thanks man,” Ronan snorted, settling back into his seat with his arm still around Adam. Adam got comfortable as well, resting his head back on Ronan’s shoulder. He let his eyes slip shut for a second, and in the back of his mind he thought how he was so tired that he could fall asleep right like this. 

The next thing he knew, he was being woken up by a gentle hand rubbing his back.

“Hey, Parrish,” Ronan’s voice cut through the fog of exhaustion. Even though he wasn’t fully awake, Adam could tell how soft Ronan’s voice was, and it made him smile as his eyes blinked open. “We’re gonna head out, you want me to take you to your place?”

Adam yawned and straightened up, stretching as he looked at Ronan. “Are you going to Monmouth? Or the Barns?”

“Barns, you can come if you want.”

Adam nodded. “Okay. I haven’t seen Opal in a while, anyway.”

At that, Ronan rolled his eyes. “You’re going just to see that little monster?”

“Yup,” Adam teased, smirking as he stood and grabbed Ronan’s hand to pull him up as well. Ronan laughed, smiling as he stood and didn’t let go of Adam’s hand as they walked out of Nino’s and all the way to the BMW.

 

* * *

 

Ronan had plans to have the gang over to the Barns one evening in April, to just hang out and spend the night, but three hours before they were all arriving, Ronan realized he had nothing to feed them. Which meant he and Adam had to go to the grocery store. And since it was Ronan, Adam did most of the grocery shopping.

“I don’t think you’re allowed to sit in there,” Adam stated as Ronan climbed into the shopping cart, but pushed it along anyway as he scanned the shelves for items on their list.

“I don’t give a shit if I’m allowed to or not,” Ronan grumbled, frowning as he typed out a text to Matthew on his phone. Adam could tell that Ronan’s anger was not at Matthew but instead at the fact that he was being forced to use his phone, so he didn’t interrupt Ronan as he pushed the cart up and down the aisles and gathered everything they needed.

They were more than halfway through the store before someone disciplined Ronan.

Adam wasn’t really thinking about anything in particular, but he was still pulled out of his thoughts when an employee stepped up to him almost out of nowhere and said “Sir, I’m going to ask you to get out of the cart.”

Both Adam and Ronan looked over at the worker.

“Excuse me?” Ronan snarled, which was enough to cause the guy to take a step back.

“Um, it’s our policy. We only allow infants to sit in the carriages, so. Uh. I’m supposed to ask you to get out, please.”

Ronan still looked murderous, but something in him settled as he glanced the worker up and down and then looked over his shoulder to Adam, who was silently watching this whole exchange.

“Fine, whatever. Babe, help me out of here.”

Adam rolled his eyes at the pet name, but stepped around the side and offered a steadying arm to Ronan as he uncrossed his legs and attempted to gracefully exit the cart. Of course, that didn’t go so well, and Adam had to grab Ronan by the waist to keep him from toppling over, mumbling a litany of swear words under his breath.

“I thought I said to  _ help _ ,” Ronan said once he was firmly on his feet, and the grin on his face would have been malicious if it was directed at anyone besides Adam.

Adam scoffed, shoving Ronan playfully as he went back to start pushing the cart. “You didn’t fall flat on your face, so in my book that was plenty helpful. Now look around and help me find some vegetable oil.”

They got the rest of the items on the list without issue, and as they waited in line to check out, Ronan stood close enough behind to rest his chin on Adam’s shoulder, arms lazily wrapped around Adam’s waist. Ronan took care to rest his head on the shoulder next to Adam’s good ear, which was a small gesture that still set off the butterflies in Adam’s stomach.

Adam hummed, tilting his head to the side to brush up against Ronan’s. “Glad to see you got over being told to get out of the cart.”   


“Oh don’t worry, I’m still going to file a formal complaint for them ruining all my fun. Probably gonna ask to speak to the manager, see if I can get that kid fired.”

“ _ Ronan _ .”

He laughed, squeezing Adam tighter. “Joking, calm down.”

Adam couldn’t help but smile. “You want me to calm down, then you have to pay for all this shit, since  _ you _ decided that we need thirteen packs of Oreos.”

“I might have to break up with you if you say you don’t like Oreos.” Ronan teased, pressing a kiss to the side of Adam’s neck.

Adam squawked indignantly, turning so he and Ronan were facing one another in the motionless line. Ronan quickly noticed that the tips of Adam’s ears had turned bright red, and there was a hint of a blush underneath the numerous freckles adorning Adam’s cheeks as well. If Ronan hadn’t known Adam so well, he would have thought that this reaction had come from such a public display of affection, but that wasn’t it. 

Ronan knew that it was because Adam’s neck was one of the most sensitive places on his body.

“Firstly, that was rude, Lynch. Also, I never said I didn’t like Oreos. I said that 13 packs of them was excessive and probably a waste of money.”

Ronan smirked. “Probably. But I’m buying them, so you can’t complain about it.”

“Believe me, I’ll find something else to complain about.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will.”

 

* * *

 

Aglionby Academy decided to implement a community service day towards the end of the semester, much to the chagrin of the entirety of the student body. Aglionby boys didn’t necessarily service the community; they trampled all over it and called it ‘building character,’ which was perhaps the reason the school decided to start the program in the first place.

Somehow, Ronan and Adam got put in the same small group. Adam thought that Ronan paid off a teacher to make it happen, or a student. Ronan doesn’t deny this so much as he just changed the subject.

Unfortunately for both of them, their small group was assigned the task of pulling weeds along the main street in Henrietta, and the heat of the fast-approaching summer was not in agreement with the sweaters of their Aglionby uniforms.

“Fuck,” Ronan exclaimed after ten minutes in the sun, “this is fucking miserable. What kind of shitbag decided that we needed to do manual labor all day?”

Adam, who was more than used to the manual labor, snorted. “The principal, I think. Complaining isn’t going to get you out of this.”

“Maybe, but I think I should keep complaining anyway just to be sure.”

Their calculus teacher watched as Ronan took a seat on the side of the road next to Adam, but seemed to reconsider chastising him and instead let it pass. Adam knew this was only because Ronan was the most intimidating person most of their teachers had ever met before, but he was no longer fooled.

“The faster we get this done and over with,” Adam reasoned, “the faster we can go home.”

Ronan sighed, nudging Adam’s shoe with his own. “Or we could get up and leave right now. You’ve pulled at least ten weeds, which is enough to have made some sort of difference.”

It said a lot for the kind of stress Adam was under that he was actually considering it. Technically, there was no mandated end time, and he had shown up. He didn’t think he would get in trouble with the administration for leaving early, since all of his teachers loved him and he already had gotten his letters of recommendation for college. So there was no more real damage to be done. 

Still, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it, since old habits die hard. “Another fifteen minutes, then it’ll be more acceptable to go.”

So, Ronan continued to complain about the scorching heat while Adam did a mediocre job of pulling weeds. Every once in a while Adam would glance over at Ronan, and more often than not he caught him staring at Adam’s hands, or his face, or some other part of him.

“See something you like?” Adam teased, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead in an attempt to clean off some of the sweat.

Ronan just stared at him for another second, cheeks pink from either the heat or from being caught, Adam couldn’t tell which.

“Can we leave now?” Ronan asked, ignoring Adam’s question completely in favor of standing up from his position on the sidewalk. It had been more than 15 minutes since Adam insisted they stay, and the side of the street did look better. Their teacher raised his eyebrows as they both began to move, but still didn’t try to reprimand them.

So, Adam nodded and they started walking back to Aglionby, where Ronan’s car was parked waiting for them. Despite the heat, they walked back hand-in-hand, and the familiarity of Ronan’s hand in his was plenty of a distraction from any stares they might have gotten, walking down one of the busiest roads in town.

“I’m surprised you even agreed to show up to this thing in the first place,” Adam said after a minute of silence, looking over at Ronan. “You hate doing shit like this.”

“Excuse you, I’m great at ‘shit like this.’ I’m re-doing the Barns all by myself, aren’t I? I just hate when the fucking school decides to make us suffer and arbitrarily gives us tasks that won’t make this shithole of a town that much nicer anyway.”

“Tell us how you really feel,” Adam said dryly, but when he looked at Ronan again they were both smiling.

Ronan squeezed Adam’s hand, his thumb brushing against Adam’s knuckles. “I guess it helped that I had a pretty good view, all things considered.”   
  
“That’s gross.”

“ _ You’re  _ gross.”

Adam laughed, a loud and bright and happy laugh that was rare enough that Ronan was always thankful when he was around to hear it. It made him feel invincible and powerful, knowing he was the one who made Adam happy, and not for the first time, his mind offered up the phrase “you love him” as the most prominent explanation for this feeling. Ronan desperately wanted to tell him, wanted to shout it so loud that this whole fucking town could hear him, but he knew better than to do it now. He knew Adam still had a tough time understanding the depth of Ronan’s affections, even if they were mutual, so Ronan was willing to wait until he was more comfortable with the idea that someone could love him and mean it. No matter how long it took, he would wait.

Instead of this confession, Ronan asked “Can I kiss you right now?” He realized a beat later that even that question may have been too intense, so he started rambling. “Shit, I mean, if you’re okay with it, I know we’re like actually in public and I forgot so if you don’t want to then tha--”

Adam cuts him off with a kiss. It’s brief, but his free hand reaches up to cup Ronan’s cheek anyway. “Shut up, it’s fine. I told you it’s fine, and I meant it. Yeah, Henrietta isn’t the most open town, but I’m not gonna let it stop me from kissing you if I want to, and I want to.”

Ronan doesn’t exactly have the words to respond to that, so he just leans down and kisses Adam again. It’s just as soft as before, and Ronan doesn’t mind the heat of the sun as much when he’s pressed up against Adam.

“We should probably keep walking if we want to make it back to your car without dying of heat exhaustion,” Adam mumbled against Ronan’s lips a second later, reluctantly pulling away but still not letting go of Ronan’s hand.

“We could try to find Gansey and rescue him too,” Ronan offered once they’re climbing into the BMW, and Adam nodded. 

“Okay. He left after us, so I dunno where he could be.”   


Ronan shrugged as he cranked the AC. “Guess we’ll just have to drive around for a bit.”

Adam smiled, getting a warm feeling in his chest that had nothing to do with the heat and everything to do with Ronan. “Sounds good to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> first fic for this fandom!! have this to celebrate the fact that maggie is thinking about writing a ronan-centric trilogy, rip @ me


End file.
